Act I: Blood - Battles 7-8

Cut Scene 9: The Florida Coast

Although Morgan and Lizzie don't catch up to the Spanish, they aren't far behind. While trying to figure out their next move, Alain pops up, evidentially sailing over from Malta. He congratulates Morgan's progress, and says that he and his unit will ride ahead to stall the Spanish. In the meantime, he orders Morgan to capture the Spanish money for rebuilding the knighthood. This doesn't gel with Lizzie, but Morgan assures her that everything will be all right.

Battle 7: Spanish Treasure Fleet

Morgan and company arrive on the south coast of Florida. The Spanish have already landed here and fortified it, so landing just anywhere is not an option. We'll have to find a spot to safely disembark.

You start this match with three ships: the Paris Burning, the Blanco, and the Snap Dragon. The Paris Burning is your flagship, and it holds Lizzie, Morgan, and a couple other soldiers. The Blanco is holding a Covered Wagon and a couple siege weapons. The Snap Dragon holds nothing.

I mention this because your ships will be attacked soon by a couple Spanish ships. The Snap Dragon is expendable, but the others are not. The fight will not be difficult, but you'll want the Snap Dragon taking the damage if you can help it.

Once you sink the enemies, you'll be told that a Spanish treasure ship is north of your position. It's guarded by an Outpost, and sitting beside that is a small walled area holding a few units that you will convert to your side once free. Now, what you need to do is get the Blanco to land close to the coast and have its siege units disembark. Have them take out the Outpost from outside its range, then demolish the prison walls.

Now, this treasure ship is not an actual ship, as the popup window tells you. Actually, it's a never-ending supply of coin that slowly gives you some at regular intervals (the term is a "coin trickle"). It's a little in the open, so you'll want it protected.

Now, this is as safe a place as any to disembark, so do so. Leave the ships to guard the treasure ships, then establish your colony. You'll come under attack pretty quickly, both by land and by sea. If your ships are taken down, don't worry; just try to get a dock up as quickly as possible and protect it with a couple Outposts.

After the initial waves of attacks, the match becomes pretty easy. Grab your army and start exploring outward. You'll find more treasure ships, which you capture by taking out their adjacent Outposts. Also you'll find super-powerful Forts, which can shred your army and take forever to take down. Mortars can fire from outside the range a Fort can hit, but Falconets cannot.

The main enemy base is on the west side of the map, and around it are about eight treasure ships. All you need to capture are six, and the match is yours.

Cut Scene 10: The True Enemy

Sahin was among the Spanish, and was captured when the base was taken. While speaking to him, Alain comes riding up and orders the execution of both Sahin and the allied Incas who helped you out in the match. As he rides away, Lizzie and Sahin convince Morgan that Alain is the bad guy, the one who's looking to take the Fountain of Youth for himself. Morgan is distraught by this, but decides to release Sahin and the Inca chief for now. They will be his prisoners as he checks out the Lake of the Moon himself.

Cut Scene 11: Lake of the Moon

Lizzie, Morgan, and Sahin are checking out the Lake of the Moon from some distance away. Guards are absolutely everywhere, and the telltale white animals of the Circle of Ossus are hanging around as well. As look closer, they see Alain chatting with Circle's elite soldiers behind some walls.

Morgan realizes he's been betrayed. For revenge, Sahin suggests that we destroy the Fountain of Youth so no one (especially Alain) can have it. Although Lizzie is lacking gunpowder, Sahin has it coming out of every orifice, so Fireships will be unit of the day.

Battle 8: The Fountain of Youth?

This match starts off without a Town Center or shipments from Malta, so you have to perform the opening phase carefully. The first thing you need to do is take your entire army and assign them a group number. Take your starting Fireships, and tell them all to attack the Fountain. As they sail, Morgan will see a big cannon on the island they're standing on.

Your Fireships are on their way, and it really doesn't matter if they're taken down or they succeed (at best, they'll lightly damage the Fountain), so take your whole army and head toward the large cannon. If you don't, it will turn against your army and decimate them, so you need to do it quickly.

With the cannon in your possession, you'll want to assign it its own group number so you can call it up anytime. Now, a little about it… it's a very long range, but it can't reach every corner of the map. (For that matter, it can't reach every corner of your island.) Also, it has a minimal range; that is, if a unit is too close, the gun can't target it. Enemy ships can get within that range, so you'll want to build a couple Outposts near it to defend it. (You won't be able to build the Outposts directly next to the giant cannon due to terrain, but place them as close as you can.) Finally, if the cannon takes enough damage, it can be repaired for a cost of coin, similar to other buildings. Still, you'll want to watch it so it doesn't get damaged too badly. Finally, this cannon can be recaptured, and if it is, you're screwed, so always have at least 10 units guarding it at all times.

A Covered Wagon and some settlers will then appear on your island. Coincidentally, they appear right beside a mine, some berries, and some trees. Set up your Town Center and otherwise establish your economy (especially as many houses and you can whip out). Meanwhile, use the army and the giant cannon to obliterate the Circle's city, which is the orange-colored buildings and units on the same island. The cannon is actually best used on free will (as opposed to your direct orders) unless there's an emergency, because it will prioritize units and ships over buildings.

Eventually, your tiny army will probably be beaten back by the Circle. Either way, you don't have to destroy them completely here. If your army gets too thinned, have them retreat to your Town Center to reinforce them and continue getting the economy running. Finish decking out your army, then try again and finish off the Circle's camp.

Once the Circle is done, build a second Town Center in roughly the same place as the Circle's Town Center was. Also around this time, you'll get a massive influx of army, so you'll need to probably build a bunch more houses to support the population. You're pretty safe, so you can actually turn the giant cannon on the Fountain of Youth to speed things up.

With your economy in full swing and the Circle reduced to nothing, you pretty much have two options. You can either constantly build Fireships and keep up the pressure on the Fountain, or you can send the army to the other side of the ocean and start hammering the enemy's base. Even if you do the latter, you'll have to attack the Fountain to win, but that way you will have less resistance. I enjoying going for total domination, so I'm attacking the red-colored baddies, at least to wound them.

Although it may not look like it at first, your island and the enemy's island are connected. (I guess that doesn't make them islands then, huh?) There's a strip of land that traces the map counterclockwise that you can use to head over to the enemy. Leave your heroes (Morgan, Lizzie, and Sahin) back at the giant cannon so they don't get stranded if something goes horribly wrong.

Now, you probably won't be able fully destroy the enemies. There are a TON of troops inside their stone walls. However, by destroying their nearby Dock and the Outposts, you can protect your Fireships as they smack the Fountain. When it seems clear (that is, when you reached the stone walls), lay off the ground attack and go by sea. Your Fireships can easily finish whatever the giant cannon didn't manage to do.

Cut Scene 12: A Possible Future

With the Fountain of Youth destroyed, the heroes begin to part ways. Sahin sails back to Europe, although he knows that the Ottoman are an outdated civilization. Lizzie lost all her gold, so she leaves and mopes, but legend says that she and Morgan get back together for a little horizontal jogging after all their adventures. Morgan himself stays on the island and wonders about the Fountain, and whether it had any significance, but all he can do is wonder.

The Circle of Ossus is still alive and wants to do more than wonder, however…